Elysia huffed. Okay, she thought. Let's try this one more time.
It was incredibly frustrating to have this kind of clairvoyant gift when she could apparently only use it to aid others. She could tell fortunes all too easily, she could conjure up a loved one to allow her customers closure, and on her best days, she could even make spirits appear. But after hours when the curtain had closed and she had her little tent all to herself? Suddenly the crystal ball was quiet and clear, her quartz charms completely still and soundless... even her incense seemed to barely smell like anything. It was as if the spirits themselves had a nine-to-five, and the damn spirits were working to rule!
That wasn't good enough for Elysia. Even though she didn't have an exact reason in mind to be doing this, knowing she wanted it was good enough. It wasn't enough that she could summon spirits for others... no one could blame a girl like her for just wanting to prove something for herself, right?
Elysia had learned to enjoy proving things to herself, rather than seeking the approval of others. Not only was she now earning heaps of approval from her abilities to literally conjure up ghosts in front of her customers, but she also let go of that kind of ego long ago. Way before she had psychic powers, when she used her old name (which she never used these days), she was used to classmates and relatives and even strangers putting her down for any reason they could find. It was always a stupid reason, like how she was only five foot even, or how she was right on the verge of being chubby, even though she was still a perfectly healthy weight. To some of them, it seemed like almost being chubby was somehow worse than being outright fat! Plus, her weight was now the source of her impressive bust, and curiously, no one seemed to complain about that, although some of her family definitely enjoyed shaming her about them. It was like she was already a slut just because she had bigger boobs than them.
And she didn't need to be a psychic to see the patterns. She was almost chubby, so she was fat. She had the biggest bust in the family, so she was a slut. Thank the heavens her family didn't know the extent of her clairvoyant work, or they might have burned her at the stake!
Elysia did her best to push those thoughts out of her mind, a little too unaware that thoughts can leave spores behind. She did her best to focus on the task at hand: summoning a spirit. Any spirit. As long as she could prove it to herself that this wasn't just a job, that was good enough for her. She wasn't just a clairvoyant-for-hire that could speak with the spirits until 2am and then she clocked out, ready to sleep until noon -- she was a ghost whisperer, she was one with the spirits!
She breathed -- in, out, in, and out -- and sat back at the little table, her eyes focused squarely on her crystal ball. This'll be the one, she told herself. She kept making mistakes by only giving partial energy to her attempts, so that she had enough energy for a "next time" -- there was no "next time" now. This was going to be the one. She would learn from her mistakes. Slowly, she lifted her hands, pushing them towards the ball. She allowed her mind to go blank, so blank that her eyes began to roll into her head of their own accord. She could feel the spiritual world taking over.
They all began like this; there was no reason to get excited yet. She kept up her resolve, feeling the power emanate through her fingertips. Slowly but surely, her crystal ball began to cloud. Her chest began to rise and fall with her breaths, noticing out of the corner of her eye that her quartz crystals were beginning to vibrate in place. Yes, yes... keep going, she thought cautiously, not daring to let her progress shake her focus.
The ball began to change color, from its usual pastel purple-blue to a dark purple. Elysia exhaled slowly, trying to use more of her spiritual energy now that she was through the looking glass. She breathed in heavily -- her incense smelled extra strong. It was almost overpowering, but Elysia was good at what she did, and she barely even noticed the change. The charms hung up in her tent began to shake around and produce wonderfully chaotic music, bashing against each other with erratic uncertainty. Behind her, the candles she lit began to go out, one by one... then reignite, their flames brighter and deeper.
Elysia's resolve only began to break when she noticed her vision was becoming impaired. It was... her own hair? She hadn't even noticed the wind begin to pick up within her tent. She'd seen her crystal ball glow a deep red -- a color she'd never seen before -- but she didn't dare stop. Her resolve may have cracked, but she was just as committed as ever. She was summoning a spirit, and a powerful one! She allowed herself to breathe, and breathe she did -- she emitted short excited breaths, feeling some strange powerful magic course through her. Her crystal ball started to rattle in place, and she allowed herself to look around her tent -- whichever of her quartz crystals weren't quivering in place were flying off of her furniture, and her candles were in a constant state of blowing out in the wind and reigniting -- in new different colors of flame!
Suddenly, Elysia felt a powerful force push back against her. No, pushing back wasn't it... it was as if the spirit was forcing itself through her, but was so massive that traveling between realms was akin to splitting her spiritual side wide open! Elysia held on, her feet now gripping her floor, feeling the wind whipping away at her face and clothing. She gritted her teeth and focused on her crystal ball -- it was rapidly changing colors, yet so naturally, as if a storm was brewing within her little sphere of glass.
This was it! she thought to herself. I'm doing it! I'm summoning a spirit!
Maybe she should have been nervous, but Elysia was only excited. Most spirits she summoned didn't arrive with such aplomb, and instead felt like a shiver passing through her. Here, it felt like an absolute ordeal, as if her own soul was being sucked out, but in a benevolent way. The chaos was almost calming, even when the corporeal form began to apparate in front of her, wisp by wisp.
The form started blurry and unclear -- it took a few seconds to become apparent that she was looking at a forming spirit and not a persistent dust cloud amongst the storm in her tent. Elysia kept up her efforts, channeling all of her power into this newfound spirit, but slowly, almost without her realizing it, she just sat back, her eyes and mouth widening as the spirit came into full view.
This spirit had a lot more presence than the others she'd summoned -- usually, it was as simple as conjuring up a form in a matter of seconds to dance in the space of her tent, delight her guest, and leave. This spirit was appearing piece by piece, and it became clear that while this spirit needed extra help getting its foot in the door, it would need no such help maintaining itself.
